The 32nd Stora Enso Cup, the golf challenge between the Swedish and Finnish Chambers was played on Friday, 13 April at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba West in Shizuoka Prefecture. The event was played in mostly sunny and rather warm spring weather with Mt. Fuji visible on most holes in the morning.
The Finnish Chamber won now for the third time in a row, beating the SCCJ by a fairly large margin, 79.5 versus 83.4 as average for the best 80% in each team. The FCCJ has eight more wins than the SCCJ, 20 against 12.
Individual winner was Yutaka Chiba (FCCJ) with a net 69 and he also took the FCCJ Golf Cup. Second best net was Joni Santala, net 70 (gross 82).
Best SCCJ golfer, and winner of the SCCJ Spring Cup was Tatsuya Tsuruhisa with a net 74.
For full results, see below.
The winners of the longest drive were on No. 9 Masaki Goto (FCCJ) and Jukka Siukosaari (FCCJ) on No. 15.
The near pin winners were: Matsumi Higashida, SCCJ (no. 7) and Keizo Mori, SCCJ (no. 12). No-one managed to hit the green on no. 4 and 17.

We would like to thank the title sponsor Stora Enso Japan as well as all the players (and their companies) who brought nice prizes to the competition. Our thanks go also to the Taiheiyo Club Gotemba West and their staff for helping us making this a great event at reasonable costs.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Pos.

Player

Company

Team

HCP

Gross

Net

1.

Yutaka Chiba

Western Associates

FCCJ

25

94

69

2.

Joni Santala

Nokia

FCCJ

12

82

70

3.

Tatsuya Tsuruhisa

Seco Tools Japan

SCCJ

16

90

74

4.

Takako Katsuki

CellMark Japan

SCCJ

36

110

74

5.

Naota Kusumi

Stora Enso Japan

FCCJ

19

94

75

6.

Veli Solehmainen

Vaisala K.K.

FCCJ

17

93

76

7.

Atsushi Yamazaki

Stora Enso Japan

FCCJ

18

95

77

8.

Tsutomu Fujii

Vaisala K.K.

FCCJ

22

99

77

9.

Masaru Sakamoto

CellMark Japan

SCCJ

26

104

78

10.

Eiji Takagi

Takagi Associates

SCCJ

11

90

79

11.

Stefan Gustafsson

IFS Japan

SCCJ

23

102

79

12.

Masaki Goto

Coil Center Fujita

FCCJ

28

107

79

13.

Pekka Sommarberg

Embassy of Finland

FCCJ

25

105

80

14.

Nobuhiko Miyaji

IFS Japan

SCCJ

16

97

81

15.

Tuomo Kuuppo

Stora Enso Japan

FCCJ

20

101

81

16.

Matsumi Higashida

Epiroc Japan

FCCJ

14

96

82

17.

Hiroshi Ozeki

Coil Center Fujita

FCCJ

24

106

82

18.

Keizo Mori

IFS Japan

SCCJ

18

101

83

19.

Michinao Kohno

SAM

SCCJ

26

109

83

20.

Nobuyuki Henmi

Western Associates

FCCJ

18

102

84

21.

Masao Ohata

Enevo Japan

FCCJ

30

114

84

22.

Clas G. Bystedt

FCCJ

FCCJ

26

111

85

23.

Takeshi Yokoyama

Airport College Intn'l

FCCJ

22

108

86

24.

Masaoki Fujita

Coil Center Fujita

FCCJ

20

107

87

25.

Hisato Saito

Individual member

SCCJ

16

104

88

26.

Tom Omoya

IFS Japan

SCCJ

30

118

88

27.

Hiroaki Sakurai

Vaisala K.K.

FCCJ

18

107

89

28.

Carl-Gustav Eklund

Höganäs Japan

SCCJ

18

110

92

29.

Jukka Siukosaari

Ambassador of Finland

FCCJ

30

122

92

30.

Lennart Johansson

langknow

SCCJ

30

123

93

31.

George Fujii

Individual member

SCCJ

22

116

94

32.

Timo Varhama

Vision Hunters

FCCJ

25

121

96

33.

Takeshi Fujiwara

B. Braun Aesculap Japan

SCCJ

30

133

103

34.

Yukio Yogo

IKEA Japan

SCCJ

30

135

105

35.

Hiroshi Goto

Stora Enso Japan

FCCJ

30

158

128

36.

Leif Nilsson

SAS

SCCJ

23

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DNF

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Guest

Tokuhiro Nakagawa

Nissho Iwai Paper & Pulp

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* Note: if players have same net, the one with lower handicap wins, if still same, the older player wins.

This was a kind of farewell golf for Ambassador Jukka Siukosaari so the groups 1 and 2 gathered for a commemorative photo on the first tee. From left: Clas Bystedt, Tuomo Kuuppo, Carl Eklund, Ambassador Siukosaari, Timo Varhama, Veli Solehmainen, Masaoki Fujita and Eiji Takagi.

Ambassador Jukka Siukosaari's first tee-shot.

Tuomo Kuuppo's first tee-shot.

Masaoki Fujita's first tee-shot.

Carl Eklund's first tee-shot.

Eiji Takagi's first tee-shot.

Group 2 approaching the second green.

Masaoki Fujita has a short putt on no. 2.

Masaoki Fujita teeing off at no. 3, Carl Eklund and Eiji Takagi enjoy the Fuji view as much as the shot...

Group 3 on the second green.

Eiji Takagi's shot at the par-3 4th hole.

Carl Eklund's tee-shot at no. 5.

Eiji Takagi's tee-shot at the 6th hole.

Masaoki Fujita in a spot of trouble at no. 6.

Carl Eklund's shot at the par-3 7th hole.

Carl Eklund's second shot at the 8th hole.

Masaoki Fujita's approach shot to the 8th green.

Carl Eklund's approach shot to the 8th green.

Carl Eklund makes a par putt on no. 8.

Masaoki Fujita makes the last tee-shot at no. 9 before the lunch break.

Group 2 at the lunch, from left: Carl Eklund, Masaoki Fujita, Eiji Takagi and Clas Bystedt.

Group 3 at the lunch, from left: Takeshi Yokoyama, Yutaka Chiba and Nobuyuki Henmi. The eventual winner Chiba-san seems to be very content with his first round score of 45.

Group 4 at the lunch, from left: Naota Kusumi, Hiroshi Goto, Nobuhiko Miyaji and Tom Omoya.

Group 5 at the lunch, from left: Masao Ohata, Michinao Kohno and Keizo Mori.

Group 6 at the lunch, from left: Joni Santala, Stefan Gustafsson, Pekka Sommarberg and Takeshi Fujiwara.

Group 7 at the lunch, from left: Matsumi Higashida, Masaki Goto, Hiroshi Ozeki and George Fujii.

Group 8 at the lunch, from left: Lennart Johansson, Atsushi Yamazaki, Tokuhiro Nakagawa and Leif Nilsson.

Group 9 at the lunch, from left: Tatsuya Tsuruhisa, Yukio Yogo, Hiroaki Sakurai
and Tsutomu Fujii.

Time for the lunch break.
Group 1 off for the second half.

Masaoki Fujita's first shot after lucnh at no. 10.

Late blooming species of cherry on hole no. 12.

Eiji Takagi's shot at the par-3 hole no. 12.

Carl Eklund waiting for group one to clear the green of hole no. 13.

Nice and textbook recovery from bunker by Masaoki Fujita.

Eiji Takagi's tee-shot at no. 14.

On hole no. 14 great views of Mt. Fuji in clear weather but now covered in quite heavy clouds.

Group no. 3 on the 14th green.

Masaoki Fujita's tee-shot on no. 15.

Eiji Takagi's tee-shot at the very difficult par-5 no. 16.

Carl Eklund's shot at the par-3 17th.

The course signature hole, no. 18. And the sun is back!

Eiji Takagi's last tee-shot of the day at the 18th.

Group no. 1 has finished their round.

Three very similar approaches to the 18th green, but two of them ended up in the water, guess which...?
...The second and the third, as well as the cameraman's ball..

After going into water, Masaoki Fujita made a very nice shot from the drop zone.

Eiji Takagi almost holed a very long put. Carl Eklund rush to study the line...

Group 7 checking and signing scorecards after the round.

SCCJ General Manager Martin Koos arranging the prize table.

Eiji Takagi, organizer on the SCCJ side, opens the prize ceremony and explans about the present to all from Mr. Nakamura of Atlas Copco who had to cancel shortly before the event - 'Akafuku' sweet bean rice cakes from Ise Grand Shrine.

Carl Eklund studies the present.

Tuomo Kuuppo speaks on behalf of the title-sponsor, Stora Enso Japan.

Ambassador Jukka Siukosaari, who is leaving Japan end of May to take up the position as Director General at the office of the President of Finland, thanks the participants for great memories and friendship. He has participated in all four events during his tenure in Japan.

Ambassador Jukka Siukosaari makes a 'kampai', for good measure in three languages, for the continued success of the event.